Peridot on the Boardwalk
by ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: Peridot's watered all the flowers she's planted around Steven's house, and goes out in search of more.


"Order up, Gunga!" Kiki walked behind the counter, pen and paper in hand. "One pizza, extra extra pepperoni."

"Is it Ronaldo?"

She looked to the customer with his face stuck in his laptop, his curly yellow hair streaming over the top. "Yep."

"I'll make sure to get him the extra extra pepperoni then."

Kiki nodded and went to stand behind the register, looking out over the empty seats. It'd be another hour or so before lunch, but until then, she had nothing to do. Maybe Steven would drop by at some point.

"Kiki!" She jumped at the sound of her father's voice.

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Where is your sister? She said she'd bring the car back by now! We need it for deliveries!"

"She's with her friends, I think. She said she'd be back in time for the lunch rush."

"Hmph." Kofi looked at Ronaldo. "You there! Do you need anything?"

Ronaldo shook his head. "No, I'm fine! Just waiting for a pizza."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Just waiting for pizza."

"I see. How long has he been waiting, Kiki?"

"Not that long. I just took his order."

"Okay. Good work." Kofi moved away. "I'll be in the back, then."

The door shut, and it was quiet again. Kiki resisted the urge to fall asleep on the counter. She looked over at her grandmother dicing tomatoes.

"How's the pizza coming along, Gunga?"

"Should be ready in a few minutes!"

"Do you need any help?"

"Nope!"

"Alright." Kiki sighed. "I'm gonna wash the tables, I…" She noticed something outside. "Guess…"

What was that? It was something green, standing just out of view of the windows. At first she thought it was the flowers they'd recently put out front, but then it bent down and she could see a face, arms, huge hair… whatever this was, they weren't human. Was this one of those weird magic things that happened from time to time?

On the one hand, those magic things were usually incredibly dangerous, but this one didn't seem particularly dangerous. They were just sitting there and staring at the flowers... for whatever reason.

But why?

Kiki looked at Ronaldo, who had sat up and let out a large gasp, then begun typing at a rate only movie hackers and secretaries could match. He seemed to be keeping himself busy, so she quickly took off her apron and hurried outside to find out.

The sight that greeted her was almost certainly something magic, or at the very least highly bizarre. A bright green person was standing by the flowers with a watering can and a bag of fertilizer. She was short, with triangle-shaped hair, a yellow visor, and what appeared to be a green gemstone right in the centre of her forehead. She had one hand on her chin, a deep frown on her face… and had on a pair of alien-patterned underpants.

Kiki raised an eyebrow. "Can I… help you?"

The person looked up at her, eyes widening as if she had only just noticed her. "Oh, um, hello, human. Ahem, are you the owner of this establishment?"

"Uhhh…"

"Because I would like to report a problem with the treatment of these flowers. They're not properly fertilized, and you haven't watered them well enough. Just look at how droopy they are!"

Kiki didn't know what to say to that. "Oh. Sorry?"

"Apology accepted. You clods are lucky to have me fix them up for you. You're welcome, by the way." She grabbed the bag of fertilizer. "Just need to… open… this up… nyuhhh, come on…"

After a few moments of watching her struggle, she moved to help. "Here, let me open that for you."

"Wow, thanks." The person followed her as she carried it up to the flowers. "You can set it down there. Now, stand back and watch this!"

With a confused, slightly amused expression on her face, Kiki stepped back. She watched the person step towards the watering can and extend their hand out towards it. The can began to shake, and then lifted, water sloshing out of the top. It slowly jerked towards the flowers, then tilted over, watering the plants.

Kiki raised her eyebrows. That was pretty impressive; it might have been even more so if the person doing this was dressed in something other than alien underwear.

"Success!" She set the watering can down right at Kiki's feet, splashing her. "Peridot wins again!"

Kiki laughed, brushed off the water on her legs. "Nice job. Peridot, is that your name?"

"Yes."

"I'm Kiki. Nice to meet you." She inched closer as Peridot started putting fertilizer around the flowers. "So, uh, are you one of those magic ladies Steven lives with?"

"What? I don't live with Steven. I just live in his bathroom for now."

"You live in his bathroom."

"For now."

"Huh… I guess that's why I haven't seen you around here before." Kiki smiled at her. "So, where'd you live before?"

Peridot tensed up, and Kiki immediately knew she'd hit a nerve. "I mean, um, you need any help with the flowers?"

"No, this should be adequate." She stood up and brushed herself off. "I'll come back tomorrow to see how these plants are doing. Because of my help, they should be much better."

Kiki thought about the boring lull between breakfast and lunch. "Sure. Thanks for fixing them up for us."

Peridot looked at the flowers, and her smile returned, quieter this time. "You're welcome."

Then she walked away, dragging the fertilizer behind her. Kiki watched as she took notice of a little potted plant sitting outside of the doughnut shop, and leaned over to inspect it.

Kiki smiled back, and then headed inside.

"Hey, Kiki!" Her grandmother waved. "I have a cold pizza for Ronaldo!"

"Pizza… oh, no, how long have I been out there? I'm so sorry, Gunga-"

Nanefua chuckled. "Just kidding. I already gave it to him. Extra extra pepperoni!"

From across the room, Ronaldo bit into a slice. "Mm, it's so good!"

"So, did you have fun looking after the flowers with your little friend?"

"Yeah… I guess I did."


End file.
